Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1887-02-18
THE POTATO.
SHIPPING POTATOES IN wINTEE.


The potato is so easily injured by frost
that for many years the shipping season
was limited by the approach of the first
cold weather. The potato, twenty-five or
thirty years ago, was not nearly as i'm
portant commercially as it has now become
1t is practically impossible to get the en-
tire crop of potatoes to market in locali-
ties where they are grown largely during
the few weeks, or perhaps days after it is
dug and before everything is frozen up
solid. With double lining to cars, and
good stove inside to supply heat, trains
loaded with potatoes whistle through
temperatures below zero without fear of
injury. The great poizt in shipping po-
tatoes in winter is to get them into the
cars without being injured. After they
are once in the car the attendant is easily
able to ensure them against any damage
by frost. Potatoes cannot be drawn
three to five miles safely in winter, for
whenever the weather is mild enough
roads are poor.
Large warehouses surround the ship
ping stations in sections of New York
where potatoes are brought, while the
weather is still warm. These are mainly
above ground, and freezing in them is
to heat the entire building. The ware
houses are usually owned by shippers and
the charge for storing potatoes until
spring varies from two to five cents per
bushel. Most commonly four cents is
paid, which not only pays for use of room
occupied, but hires some one to attend
fires and buy coal for severe weather.
The potatoes are still owned by the grow
1iuir,rr arb seuaraI iIaS sta mt
who find this method of storing them
enough better than keeping at home in
cellars or pits to pay for the increased
cost.
The great advantage of storing near
the shipping station is that the owner of
potatoes can get the benefit OF a sudden
advance in price, which often occurs in
the large markets in midwinter. When
the weather is coolest most outside sup
plies are cut off. If it were not for the
warehouses filed near stations in potato
growing districts, and the possibility of
shipping for the longest distances in any
weather, these midwinter advances would
be not only more frequent, but more de-
cided than they are. The price is now
more regular through the year. Under
the old system winter famine in some
Eastern or Western city will often be
followed by a glutted market in spring,
when what pototoes are in farmers hands
must be sold. Now, if prices of potatoes
are pretty we'll up in midwinter in Eastern
and Western markets, there is little pro-
liability of general slump when warm
Weather comes.
In either shipping or warehousing po-
tatoes it is found best to keep the tempe
nature as near as possible the freezing
point without going below it. If for a
short time the temperature goes little
below freezing, little or no harm is done,
There is reserve of heat in bulk of
potatoes put in during warm weather,
and this protects them for time. 1t is
more difficult to prevent potatoes from
becoming too warm and the eyes start
ing into growth. Herein is one of the
advantages of storing in warehouses and
regulating the heat By fires rather
than putting potatoes in pits or cellars,
where too great heat is nearly always
maintained in order to avoid the greatest
danger of freezing. 1t is true that po-
tato even slightly touched by frost is
ruined, yet ten times as many potatoes
are lost by keeping too warm. In sprout-
ing they lose weight rapidly, and the
labor of removing the sprouts takes off
the profits even of a considerable ad-
vance, should there be one.
When potatoes are shipped in winter
about 400 bushels makes a carload. This
is rather less than a load in warm wealth
er, as the double lining OF a car takes up
some room, while space in the centre
N ust be reserved for a stove, fuel and a n
attendant. 1t is not uncommon for
large growers of potatoes to charter and
fill one or more cars and take them to
market. The cars being chartered the
attendants ride without extra charge, and
a railway journey of several hundred
miles may thus be made not only with
out cost, but actually source of profit.
The attendant however, fully earns his
passage by the work necessary in pro-
tecting his perishable charge from injury
during its travels.